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Twill is a type of fabric
Textile

A textile is a flexible material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by Spinning raw wool fibres, linen, cotton, or other material on a spinning wheel to produce long strands known as yarn....
 woven
Weaving

Weaving is the textile arts in which two distinct sets of yarn, called the Warp and the filling or weft , are interlaced with each other to form a textile....
 with a pattern of diagonal parallel ribs.

It is made by passing the weft
Weft

In weaving, weft or woof is the yarn which is drawn under and over parallel Warp yarns to create a textile. In North America, it is sometimes referred to as the "fill" or the "filling yarn", and in India, it is referred to as "baana"....
 thread over one or more warp
Warp (weaving)

In weaving, the warp is the set of lengthwise yarns through which the weft is woven. Each individual warp thread in a fabric is called a warp end....
 threads and then under two or more warp threads and so on, with a "step" or offset between rows to create the characteristic diagonal pattern.






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Twillsample
Twill is a type of fabric
Textile

A textile is a flexible material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by Spinning raw wool fibres, linen, cotton, or other material on a spinning wheel to produce long strands known as yarn....
 woven
Weaving

Weaving is the textile arts in which two distinct sets of yarn, called the Warp and the filling or weft , are interlaced with each other to form a textile....
 with a pattern of diagonal parallel ribs.

It is made by passing the weft
Weft

In weaving, weft or woof is the yarn which is drawn under and over parallel Warp yarns to create a textile. In North America, it is sometimes referred to as the "fill" or the "filling yarn", and in India, it is referred to as "baana"....
 thread over one or more warp
Warp (weaving)

In weaving, the warp is the set of lengthwise yarns through which the weft is woven. Each individual warp thread in a fabric is called a warp end....
 threads and then under two or more warp threads and so on, with a "step" or offset between rows to create the characteristic diagonal pattern. Because of this structure, twills generally drape well. Examples of twill fabric are chino
Chino cloth

Chino cloth is a kind of twill fabric, usually made primarily from cotton. Originally used in British and French military uniforms in the mid-1800s, today it is also used to make civilian clothing....
, drill
Drill (fabric)

Drill is a strong, durable cotton fabric with a strong bias in the weave. It can be used unbleached, although it is more often Bleach ed, or dyed....
, denim
Denim

Denim is a rugged cotton twill textile, in which the weft passes under two or more Warp fibers. This produces the familiar diagonal ribbing identifiable on the reverse of the fabric, which distinguishes denim from cotton duck....
, gabardine
Gabardine

Gabardine is a tough, tightly woven Textile used to make suits, overcoats, trousers and other garments. The fibre used to make the fabric is traditionally worsted wool, but may also be cotton, synthetic or mixed....
, tweed
Tweed (cloth)

Tweed is a rough, unfinished woolen textile, of a soft, open, flexible texture resembling Cheviot_ or Spinning #Hand spinning, but more closely weaving....
 and serge
Serge

Serge is a type of twill textile that has diagonal lines or ridges on both sides, made with a two-up, two-down weave. The worsted variety is used in making military uniforms, suit s, great and trench coats....
.

Harris Tweed
Harris Tweed

Harris Tweed , is a luxury cloth that has been Weaving by the islanders on the Isles of Harris, Outer Hebrides, Lewis, Uist and Barra in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, using local wool....
 is a luxury twill handwoven on the Isle of Harris, Outer Hebrides
Outer Hebrides

The Outer Hebrides, comprise an Archipelago off the west coast of Scotland. The local government area is one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland....
, Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
.

Structure


In a twill weave, each weft or filling yarn floats across two or more warp yarns in a progression of interlacings by one to the right or left, forming a distinct diagonal line. This diagonal line is also known as a wale. A float is the portion of a yarn that crosses over two or more yarns from the opposite direction.

A twill weave requires three or more harnesses, depending on its complexity. A twill weave is the second most basic weave that can be made on a fairly simple loom
Loom

A loom is a machine or device for weaving thread or yarn into textiles. Looms can range from very small hand-held frames, to large free-standing hand looms, to huge automatic mechanical devices....
.

Twill weave is often design and the denominator indicates the number of harnesses that are lowered when a filling yarn is inserted, in this example one. The fraction 2/1 would be read as "two up, one down". The minimum number of harnesses needed to produce a twill can be determined by totaling the numbers in the fraction. For the example described, the number of harnesses is three.

Characteristics of twill


Twill fabrics technically have a front and a back side, unlike plain weave, where the two sides are the same. The front side of the twill is the technical face and the back is called technical back. The technical face side of a twill weave fabric is the side with the most pronounced wale. It is usually more durable, more attractive, and most often used as the fashion side of the fabric. This side is usually the side visible during weaving. If there are warp floats on the technical face (if the warp crosses over two or more wefts), there will be filling floats (the weft will cross over two or more warps) on the technical back. If the twill wale goes up to the right on one side, it will go up to the left on the other side. Twill fabrics have no up and down as they are woven.

Sheer fabrics are seldom made with a twill weave. Because a twill surface has interesting texture and design, printed twills (where a design is printed on the cloth) are much less common than printed plain weaves. When twills are printed, they are most likely to be lightweight fabrics. Soil shows less on the uneven surface of twills than it does on smooth surfaces, such as plain weaves. Thus, twills are often used for sturdy work clothing or durable upholstery because soils and stains are less noticeable on this fabric. Denim, for example, is a twill.

The fewer interlacings in twills allow the yarns to move more freely, and thus they are softer and more pliable, and drape better. Twills also recover better from wrinkles than plain-weave fabrics. When there are fewer interlacings, yarns can be packed closer together to produce high-count fabrics. In twills and higher counts, the fabric is more durable and air- and water-resistant.

There are even-sided twills and warp-faced twills. Even-sided twills include foulard or surah, serge
Serge

Serge is a type of twill textile that has diagonal lines or ridges on both sides, made with a two-up, two-down weave. The worsted variety is used in making military uniforms, suit s, great and trench coats....
, twill flannel
Flannel

Flannel is a soft #Weave fabric, of various fineness. It usually doesn't have a nap , and instead gains its softness through the loosely spun yarn it is woven from....
, sharkskin, herringbone
Herringbone

Herringbone can refer to:*A layout of airline seating - see Herringbone seating*A bonding pattern of brickwork, also known as opus spicatum*A weaving pattern of Tweed or twill cloth - see Herringbone ...
, and houndstooth
Houndstooth

Houndstooth, houndstooth check or hound's tooth is a duotone textile pattern, characterized by broken check or abstract four-pointed shapes....
. Warp-faced twills include lining twill, denim
Denim

Denim is a rugged cotton twill textile, in which the weft passes under two or more Warp fibers. This produces the familiar diagonal ribbing identifiable on the reverse of the fabric, which distinguishes denim from cotton duck....
, jean, drill
Drill (fabric)

Drill is a strong, durable cotton fabric with a strong bias in the weave. It can be used unbleached, although it is more often Bleach ed, or dyed....
, covert, chino
Chino cloth

Chino cloth is a kind of twill fabric, usually made primarily from cotton. Originally used in British and French military uniforms in the mid-1800s, today it is also used to make civilian clothing....
, gabardine
Gabardine

Gabardine is a tough, tightly woven Textile used to make suits, overcoats, trousers and other garments. The fibre used to make the fabric is traditionally worsted wool, but may also be cotton, synthetic or mixed....
, cavalry twill, and fancy twill.